Discipline makes Daring possible.

Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

Category: Customer Experience OurScore

Dissecting the Promise, part 4: with the status you seek.
December 6, 2019

Dissecting the Promise, part 4: with the status you seek.

We humans don’t just want community, we want to have our own place in that community.

We like to know where we stand relative to our fellows.  Which means that everything we do isn’t only about becoming the person we want to be, it’s also about being seen to become that person by the people we see as our peers, the people like us.

What can you do to deliver this as part of your Promise of Value?

Here’s a brilliant example of one way to do it.    Here’s a different way, equally brilliant.

I’m sure you’ll think of others, now you know.

Dissecting the Promise, Part 3: so that you can join the tribe that feels like home for you
December 5, 2019

Dissecting the Promise, Part 3: so that you can join the tribe that feels like home for you

What’s the point of becoming the person you want to be, if nobody else sees it?  Or cares about it?

We all want to belong to a community, a tribe.   At least one.  A group of like-minded people.  People like us.

The way we dress, the way we work, what we eat and how we spend our leisure time often signals which tribe(s) we feel we are part of, and those we don’t.   Everyone I know would be astounded if I suddenly took up golf.

So in formulating your promise of value, it pays to understand what communities the people you serve are part of, and which they seek to join.

You may even want to consider creating a new community just for them.

Dissecting the Promise, Part 2: in a way that is completely congruent with your values, beliefs and style,
December 4, 2019

Dissecting the Promise, Part 2: in a way that is completely congruent with your values, beliefs and style,

Clients and customers don’t just buy the product or service we sell, nor even the promise of moving one step nearer to being the person they want to be.

They also buy the experience of buying and the experience of that becoming.

Which means that the experience of buying and becoming has to be consistent with their values, beliefs and style – with both who they are and who they want to be.

Imagine trying to deliver that experience to someone with whom you share not a single value, belief or style.  You would feel like a fraud.   they would feel it too.

It’s much easier (and more satisfying) to start by clarifying our own values, beliefs and style, so we can intentionally attract like-minded clients and customers, and deliver an experience that’s authentic for both of us.

To be truly fulfilling for both parties, customer experience has to be built-in, not bolted on.

Dissecting the Promise, Part 1: become the person you want to be
December 3, 2019

Dissecting the Promise, Part 1: become the person you want to be

We all want to be someone else.  Someone better.  Stronger, fairer, kinder, cleverer, more authoritative, more creative, more exotic – the list goes on.

If you happen to be a cosplay or fancy dress business able to literally do that – lucky you!

The rest of us have to spend some time working out a) who the people we serve are and b) who they want to be.   And of course there can be several of either.

Whether you sell a product or service, the challenge is the same.  Take electric drills, for example.   As someone famously said, when his marketing department insisted on going through features “people don’t buy drills, they buy holes in the wall!”.

They don’t of course.   They don’t even buy a bookshelf on the wall, or a picture hung, or a wooden toy mended.   What they buy is the ability to become a closer version of the person they want to be.

Putting up a shelf, or hanging a picture or mending the wooden toy might make a father feel he is taking care of his family, as his father did before him.   He’s out at work all day, so he misses out on mealtimes and bedtimes, but he can do his bit for the nest they’re all in.

The same thing might make a woman feel like she is independent, capable, self-sufficient, so that when she chooses to settle down its because she wants to, not because she has to.

That’s a lot to pack in to a product or service.   As responsible businesses we have a duty to understand who we serve and who they want to be, as fully as we can, and then find the best, most effective way to help them get there, without harming them, other people or the planet in the process.

We never buy just ‘stuff’.   Which means we can’t sell just ‘stuff’.

Exit interviews
November 22, 2019

Exit interviews

In one of my jobs I ended up being quite badly bullied by my immediate boss.

It took me quite a while to realise what was going on – I liked them, and could see they had personal problems.   I tried to help.  And I assumed that I was the one getting things wrong.

But once the real situation became obvious I also realised that I wasn’t the first person on the team to suffer.   In fact several team members had already left for this reason.

Eventually, I decided to look for another job, and found one.   A step up, for much better money, that did wonders for my self-esteem.

The day I left I had an interview with someone in HR.   They were sorry to see me go.   I’d been there a long time.   I’d done a good job.   I was appreciated by the people I served and well thought of by others in my department.  We had a nice conversation.

Finally, it was time to go.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m leaving?”

I know that things changed in that team after I left.  The team was re-structured, my old boss got help.  But only because I volunteered information about what was going on.

An exit interview is your last opportunity to learn from an unhappy client, supplier or team member.   Don’t waste it.

Reviews
November 21, 2019

Reviews

Ideas for doing things better can come from anywhere.   A question asked by a prospect or client, a suggestion from one of your team, a report from an external adviser or regulator.

A few of these will be so obviously the right thing to do, you can adopt them immediately.  Most will benefit from some review time.

Why?  Because its easy to get bogged down in small changes that add complexity and dilute your Promise, without actually adding real value.

“We’ll get this prospect if we add X to our offer.”  Really?   Is X consistent with our Promise?  Is this a prospect we really want?

“This client is asking for Y.  The customer is always right.”   Really?   Is Y consistent with our Promise?  Will it add enough value to more of our clients?  Does it allow us to protect or increase our prices?

“We should try this Z way of doing things, everyone else is.”  Really?  Is Z consistent with our Promise?  How does it affect the process downstream?  Does it improve how we deliver our Promise?

An easily updated and shared wish list with regular, frequent reviews is a sensible way to handle suggestions for improvement.

If everyone is crystal-clear on your Promise, you’ll quickly agree on those you should implement straight away, those you should reject, and those that need more reflection.   And everyone will learn to make better suggestions.

 

FAClues
November 20, 2019

FAClues

What question does your business get asked over and over again?

What could you do to save people having to ask it?

Promises made/not made
November 19, 2019

Promises made/not made

Measuring how you share your Promise is simple.   Measure how many promises you’ve made.   In other words, measure the result of your  activity – enrolled, signed-up clients or customers.

But if you want to improve the way you share your Promise, you need more detailed feedback than that.   You need to delve deeper and measure what’s going on inside it.

So, when you show up in places where the people you serve hang out, how many of them notice that you’re there?  Do you get noticed more in some places than others?  Are you getting noticed by the right people?

When some of those people evaluate you, what information do they use to do that?   Do they visit your website or listen to your podcast?  Do they read your blog?   Do they look you up on LinkedIn?   How many of them subscribe?  How many come to the talks you give?

Of the people who’ve evaluated you, how many do you get to have a conversation with?   How do those conversations go?  What makes them go well?  What makes them go badly?  How many of them should not have happened, because you are not right for each other?  How many result in someone signing up for something low-risk, as a way of trying you out?

And once people have given you a trial, how many sign up for something more permanent?

This will all sound familiar.   Businesses have thought of selling as a process for a long time.   I think it’s its more useful to frame it as a buying process, with the aim of making it as easy as possible for the people you are right for to find you, then get to know, like and trust you enough to enroll with you.

And as easy as possible for the people you can’t help to reject you as early as possible.

Measure how well you do both.

Diagnosis
November 18, 2019

Diagnosis

If you want to improve anything, you have to know how well it is already working.   That of course means measurement.

We tend to think that this means measuring output.   But that isn’t enough.

Measuring the total profit in my business tells me whether or not I’m doing well, it doesn’t tell me where to look for the the source of my success or failure.

What’s also needed is a measurement of flow.   How fast, or how slowly, do prospects and clients travel through my business?   Are there any leaks?   Are there blockages?

It so happens that the simplest way to measure this for a business is time spent working on a process.   So the better defined your processes are, the more diagnostic the measurement can be.

The good news is that you can start at Share Promise and Keep Promise, and learn downwards from there.

Selling
November 8, 2019

Selling

Many of us hate the idea of selling.   Our stereotype of a salesperson is someone who is pushy, manipulative, only interested in us for the duration of the transaction, and only motivated by their commission.   Naturally, we shy away from the idea of being like that.

The answer is to forget selling, and focus on the person who you wish to serve.

The final step in sharing your Promise is to enroll your prospect on the journey they want to take with you.   Unlike a sale, enrollment offers the possibility of duration, of being the start of a relationship, of learning from each other, of creating a bond that lasts longer than the work you do together.

Your job in this step is to make absolutely sure that you understand what your prospect wants and needs, to show how traveling with you will get them there; how you mitigate the risk for them, and how that is worth the investment you’re asking them to make.  And if you’ve been able to do that, to make the sign-up process as smooth as possible.

Then the hard part starts.   Keeping your Promise.